In a recent article by John Kaminski on the flaws of the 9-11 Commission Report, he implies that those individuals of the 9-11 truth movement who deal with the issue of peak oil alongside the unanswered questions of 9-11 are somehow abandoning their quest for answers to those questions.

In a July article, Kaminski criticizes 9-11 truth seeker Mike Ruppert for his more recent focus on peak oil. Kaminski writes: " . . . he has effectively hijacked a large segment of the 9/11 truth movement into a discussion of peak oil concerns, and his message, often indistinguishable from oil company propaganda, sounds more like an excuse for war than it does an indictment of those waging these unjustifiable wars against innocent countries."

Kaminski is not the only individual who fails to connect the dots between 9-11 and peak oil, nor is Ruppert the only person being chastised for dealing with peak oil alongside the 9-11 hoax, and after hearing from a variety of sources that the two events are somehow mutually exclusive, I feel compelled to explain the obvious relationship.

I urge everyone to view the documentary "The End of Suburbia." It confronts us with the scientific and economic realities of living at the end of the age of cheap oil—realities so gargantuan that some have labeled them "the mother of all downsizing."

Let me clarify that "peak oil" is not about the planet running out of oil, but rather that the population and consumeristic lifestyle of its inhabitants has caused and will continue to cause the costs of the production of oil and natural gas to become increasingly astronomical. Moreover, due to the fact that when some three decades ago human beings had the opportunity and resources to convert to alternative forms of energy and refused to do so, the consequence of that failure was a tragic loss of time needed to make the necessary changes from fossil fuels to alternative energies. Lost time cannot be regained.

Oil production has probably already peaked, and the human race now requires alternative forms within the next decade in order to avert a massive global energy crisis. However, the frightening reality is that even if nations had the political will to make the changes tomorrow, there is not enough time to do so. Therefore, the cavalier attitude that we need only convert to hydrogen, solar, wind or some other alternative energy at the last second before global catastrophe is a lifeboat full of holes that will not sustain us in the face of the realities of peak oil.

Peak oil necessarily means the end of economic growth and the end of the affluent, unsustainable, waste-based lifestyle of America. It means that human beings in developed countries will be required to downsize every aspect of their lives beyond anything we can presently imagine.

For those individuals who refuse to accept the reality of peak oil because they believe the planet will be rescued by aliens arriving from the far reaches of the cosmos or that somehow the evidence for peak oil is distorted or exaggerated, I encourage them to pick up a basic psychology textbook and look up the word "denial." I hasten to add that my position on this is not totally based on empirical evidence. I concur with ancient indigenous traditions that have foretold of cataclysmic events necessarily taking place on planet earth in order to transform human consciousness. Whether or not peak oil is part of such a cataclysm remains to be seen. What I do argue is that peak oil is a reality which, on a plethora of levels, we dismiss or ignore at our own peril.

I am baffled by those well-meaning individuals who do not see the connection between the events of 9-11 and peak oil. The ruling elite have known for over a decade that peak oil was a fact of life. As many readers already know, Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote about oil shortages extensively in his book The Grand Chessboard, published in 1997. In it, he argues that the United States must gain hegemony of Eurasia and the last remaining oil reserves on earth. While Brzezinksi was not part of the Project For A New American Century (PNAC) or an author of Rebuilding America's Defenses, the neocon blueprint for world domination now being carried out by the Bush administration, he has served the ruling elite all his adult life as a member of both Democratic and Republican regimes.

We now have overwhelming evidence that the 9-11 attacks were orchestrated by the Bush administration in concert with its chief intelligence asset, Al Qaeda. For the past three years, the 9-11 truth movement has speculated regarding possible motives. Certainly the neocons were motivated by power and, to use Brezezinski's words, "geostrategic hegemony" which would eventually cause nation-states to fold into a one-world government run by corporations. Unquestionably, they sought, as they have achieved in Iraq, endless government contracts for the corporations they float in and out of on their way to and from their beltway positions. But with exquisite foreknowledge of the time-crunch of peak oil, the ruling elite of both political parties needed a grand rationale for expansion into Eurasia and the Middle East. Realizing our frenzied competition with China's 1.3 billion people for the last remaining oil reserves, a contest which may inevitably deteriorate into all-out war with China, the Democrats, as well as neocons, now champion militarism and shamelessly speak of "progressive internationalism" (translation: imperialism) with their Bush-clone candidate recently proclaiming that he would have invaded Iraq even if it had been clear that no weapons of mass destruction existed.

Given that the ruling elite believes it dare not address the crux of the issue, namely the downsizing of consumption and lifestyle that have created peak oil, it must necessarily become increasingly expansionist over the next decades through both political parties. Can we not anticipate the virtual extinction of the current pretense of a two-party system entirely within the next decade? Will not the American people in a time of a massive global energy crisis hysterically elect maniacs or just simply roll over and submit to martial law and the lockdown of the country?

While Kaminski accuses the discussion of peak oil as "often indistinguishable from oil company propaganda," he seems to have ignored the evidence of the world's foremost petroleum geologists who do not work for or with oil companies. Consequently, he has dismissed what oil companies are telling us about shortages and the end of the age of cheap oil as drivel, when, in fact, some grain of truth lies in their assertions. Their motive, obviously, is profit which I abhor and do not defend. On the other hand, the concern of petroleum geologists such as Dale Allen Pfieffer, author of The End of the Age of Oil, (and author Richard Heinberg (The Party's Over), is not about oil company profits but about the severe consequences of peak oil for ourselves and future generations in the areas of food production and costs, housing, health care, education, and employment, all of which would induce an economic train wreck.

An inevitable consequence of a global energy crisis of these proportions is indeed, chaos. Can we not assume that as the ruling elite designers of 9-11 crafted their scheme over the years it took to do so, realizing the chaos inherent in the consequences of peak oil, they hastened to railroad the USA PATRIOT Act through Congress—that infamous piece of legislation that had been lying around for years before 9-11? Is it not obvious that the quashing of free speech and protest at the Democratic Convention and at the upcoming Republican Convention are but mini-rehearsals for massive militarization of police forces in America accompanied by technology for crowd control and domestic terror that we cannot yet imagine?

In the face of countries, including our own, being unable to feed, clothe, heat, and provide services for masses of human beings, is it unreasonable to conjecture that laboratory-manufactured virulent infections and other forms of biological warfare will be necessary to reduce population? Do I have an overly active imagination based on science fiction? Perhaps, but as a friend of mine once said, we must stay current with science fiction in order to have some idea of what the Pentagon and the intelligence community are up to. Undoubtedly, two decades ago, the idea of planes crashing into New York skyscrapers and the Pentagon would also have been written off as science fiction.

The 9-11 truth movement and the realities of peak oil are inextricably connected. Emphasizing one over the other or criticizing individuals engaged in the cause of either keeps us thinking inside the box and paralyzes us in a fragmented perspective that prevents us from viewing the larger picture. For those seeking the full truth of 9-11, follow the oil.

Carolyn Baker is a professor of U.S. history living in New Mexico. She can be reached atdrumbaker@zianet.com.